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+Fight+The+Illness+ · Aug 24, 2011, 03:25 PM

Greetings Sweet-Hearted and Gentle-People,

I'm having quite an issue that I'm really sure all of us have battled (or continue to do so) before:

Speaking in front of people.

I was diagnosed with Social Anxiety when I was 6 years old, and I still haven't been able to handle my anxiety when speaking in front of people. It's incredibly frustrating b/c my therapist is teaching me things that I can do to help cope with the anxiety, and I really truly do try, but I end up failing very quickly.

I'm currently taking a Spanish class in college (I'm in my 2nd year) and to my absolute HORROR I quickly realized that my professor is going to make us speak in front of the class on a daily basis (I have the class 4 times a week). Basically, he'll ask us a question in Spanish and then he'll pick students out of the class to answer it in Spanish. Everyone gets called on at some point in the class. I have terrible anxiety as it is, but speaking a foreign language in front of others while battling with the paralyzing feeling of anxiety? I can barely speak every time I'm called on. I stutter, tremble, mumble, and never make eye contact. I'm sure my professor thinks I'm some kind of weirdo b/c of the way I act whenever he calls on me.

I have absolutely no idea of what I should do. I've been trying to cope with anxiety for more than half my life, and yet it still has it's paralyzing and crippling grip on me everyday.

Does anyone know what I should do?